Read this Journal on Springerlink

For authors and editors

Aims and Scope

Empirical Software Engineering provides a forum for applied software engineering research with a strong empirical component.

Over the last decade, it has become clear that empirical studies are a fundamental component of software engineering research and practice: Software development practices and technologies must be investigated by empirical means in order to be understood, evaluated, and deployed in proper contexts. This stems from the observation that higher software quality and productivity is more likely to be achieved if well-understood, tested practices and technologies are introduced in software development.

Reported empirical studies usually involve the collection and analysis of data and experience that can be used to characterize, evaluate and reveal relationships between software development deliverables, practices, and technologies. Over time, it is expected that such empirical results will form a body of knowledge leading to widely accepted and well-formed theories.

Empirical Software Engineering aims at promoting the publication of industry-relevant research since one of its goals is to address the significant gap between research and practice.

Research Articles

Both original and replicated studies can be reported, varying from controlled experiments to field studies, from data intensive to qualitative. Preference is given to studies that can be replicated or expanded upon. Papers on the infrastructure for supporting empirical research are also of interest.

The Empirical Software Engineering journal also seeks the submission of industrial experience reports. Their goal is to report results regarding the application of software technologies (such as processes, methods, or tools) and their effectiveness in industrial settings. This interest stems from the increasing realization that the journal needs to provide insights resulting from the industrial experience of software development to the software engineering community at large. These experience reports would not only be useful for researchers to identify relevant research questions, but they would also be useful for software development organizations to share relevant information.

An industrial experience report would be expected to address the following items at a minimum:

Describe the software technologies (such as processes, methods, or tools) that are assessed and why they are important

Provide effectiveness and efficiency data leading to the assessment of the technologies

Interpret the results, explain their consequences, and draw conclusions

Discuss the limitations of the results and conclusions

Industrial experience reports may be as concise as an author wishes, provided that they cover the above items. They will be clearly labeled as industrial experience reports to indicate that different criteria are used to review them. Note that the journal encourages the submission of both positive and negative experiences.

As opposed to regular research papers, industrial experience reports do not need to necessarily:

Instructions for Authors

Copyright Information

Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before (except in form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as  tacitly or explicitly  by the responsible authorities at the institution where the work was carried out.

Author warrants (i) that he/she is the sole owner or has been authorized by any additional copyright owner to assign the right, (ii) that the article does not infringe any third party rights and no license from or payments to a third party is required to publish the article and (iii) that the article has not been previously published or licensed. The author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. Transfer of copyright to Springer (respective to owner if other than Springer) becomes effective if and when a Copyright Transfer Statement is signed or transferred electronically by the corresponding author. After submission of the Copyright Transfer Statement signed by the corresponding author, changes of authorship or in the order of the authors listed will not be accepted by Springer.

The copyright to this article, including any graphic elements therein (e.g. illustrations, charts, moving images), is assigned for good and valuable consideration to Springer effective if and when the article is accepted for publication and to the extent assignable if assignability is restricted for by applicable law or regulations (e.g. for U.S. government or crown employees).

The copyright assignment includes without limitation the exclusive, assignable and sublicensable right, unlimited in time and territory, to reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, make available and store the article, including abstracts thereof, in all forms of media of expression now known or developed in the future, including pre- and reprints, translations, photographic reproductions and microform. Springer may use the article in whole or in part in electronic form, such as use in databases or data networks for display, print or download to stationary or portable devices. This includes interactive and multimedia use and the right to alter the article to the extent necessary for such use.

Authors may self-archive the Author's accepted manuscript of their articles on their own websites. Authors may also deposit this version of the article in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later. He/she may not use the publisher's version (the final article), which is posted on SpringerLink and other Springer websites, for the purpose of self-archiving or deposit. Furthermore, the Author may only post his/her version provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com".

Prior versions of the article published on non-commercial pre-print servers like arXiv.org can remain on these servers and/or can be updated with Author's accepted version. The final published version (in pdf or html/xml format) cannot be used for this purpose. Acknowledgement needs to be given to the final publication and a link must be inserted to the published article on Springer's website, accompanied by the text "The final publication is available at link.springer.com". Author retains the right to use his/her article for his/her further scientific career by including the final published journal article in other publications such as dissertations and postdoctoral qualifications provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication.

Author is requested to use the appropriate DOI for the article. Articles disseminated via link.springer.com are indexed, abstracted and referenced by many abstracting and information services, bibliographic networks, subscription agencies, library networks, and consortia.

For Readers

While the advice and information in this journal is believed to be true and accurate at the date of its publication, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

All articles published in this journal are protected by copyright, which covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article (e.g., as offprints), as well as all translation rights. No material published in this journal may be reproduced photographically or stored on microfilm, in electronic data bases, video disks, etc., without first obtaining written permission from the publisher (respective the copyright owner if other than Springer). The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.

Springer has partnered with Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink service to offer a variety of options for reusing Springer content. For permission to reuse our content please locate the material that you wish to use on link.springer.com or on springerimages.com and click on the permissions link or go to copyright.com, then enter the title of the publication that you wish to use. For assistance in placing a permission request, Copyright Clearance Center can be connected directly via phone: +1-855-239-3415, fax: +1-978-646-8600, or e-mail: info@copyright.com.